month. we have more on that the announcement and what comes next. >> this sent shock waves through the catholic faith today. no one expected the pope to step down. it has not happened in 600 years. it said catholic leaders are already world trying to find solutions to the questions why did the pope resign and to is next? the resignation caught catholics off guard. that would be an understatement. >> it was an enormous surprise. >> washington's cardinal believes most catholic leaders were surprised and was surprised by the pope's reasoning that he did not have the energy. >> the last time i saw him, i was not concerned at all. >> talk has already turned to his possible successor. >> there is the definite

possibility we will have a pope from a different part of the world. >> even oddsmakers are on board, making a short list of favorites, cardinals from canada ghana, and nigeria. >> it is possible that the pope can come from one of the southern hemisphere countries where the churches so vibrant and alive. >> we need to have a pope the recognizes there are things going on in the world now. is not just in rome. >> with catholic churches bull of speculation with feelings of sadness, hope, and the speculation, and above all history, for this moment that has not occurred in centuries. it will start like a traditional retirement. the pope will take a vacation. then he will live in a small cluster in the vatican or he will spend the rest of his days

in devotion to the church. abc7. >> the president says that he and first lady michelle obama have warm memories of their 2009 visit with the pope. mr. obama said best wishes to the cardinal sewell -- who will this tuesday as successor now. for updates, go to wjla.com and turn to our social networking website as well on facebook and twitter. we will have much more. >> a panel will vote tomorrow on job table's nomination as secretary of defense -- chuck hagel's nomination as secretary of defense. the committee already postponed a vote scheduled for last thursday. if the committee passes hagel he will have to pass the full senate before he can be

confirmed. and there will be of boat to reauthorize the violence against women act. democrats and republicans could not work out their differences last year to reauthorize the act, so they are trying again. the new law would extend protections to gays, lesbians, immigrants, and native american women. >> there is great concern among federal workers as the government moves closer and closer to sequestration, which would force significant cutbacks. rebecca cooper is live in our news from. she has the latest on the issue. >> with no deal in sight federal workers are bracing for the impact. without the deal, federal spending could be cut by as much as $948 billion, up over $109 billion per year cut from domestic programs.

from training in the fields to medical research in labs, federal workers are being warned to be ready. they think that sequestration is coming. many say the biggest fear is the unknown. this maryland resident is not worry too will lose her job, but she is worried that the local economy will be slowed. >> the district of columbia is heavily dependent on federal workers. is spending cuts are being implemented, that might affect the spending base and money that comes back into the community. >> workers we spoke to told us they are not being told what to expect. >> we are running under -- we do not really what is going to happen. >> still, there are feelings that washington will weather the storm. >> we have been through a lot.

i think people underestimate what is going on outside of the government-based economy in d.c. >> the cuts will have a major impact on our region. more than 1500 government employees are expected to rally to protest the possible cuts. in the meantime, a senate committee will hear of the pentagon cuts will be carried out. both parties are trying for deal, but the prospects are dimming. abc7 news. >> thank you, rebecca. president obama is putting the finishing touches on his state of the union address. he will address a joint session of congress and the nation tomorrow night. he is expected to lay out priorities for his second term, among them gun-control immigration, and clean energy. florida senator marco rubio will lay of the republican response and rand paul will respond for

the tea party. >> president obama presented the medal of honor. he led a few dozen soldiers into repelling an attack in 2009. 8 soldiers were killed in that battle. heat suffered wounds to his hip -- he suffered wounds to his hip and neck, but he kept on fighting. >> i am grateful that they are here with us, and any one of them will tell you, we were not going to be beat that the. i want them to know how proud i am of them. >> he says that he accepts the medal of honor with mixed emotions. he feels toward for successfully accomplishing this mission, but sad because the many lives were lost. >> first of the iphone, then the

ipad. tonight it appears that apple is preparing for a new gadget. >> 7 is on your side with what they have this time. >> and primary goals for the goalshot lanes and why they are failing. >> i am doug hill in the beaufort furniture weather center in. will tell you what the skies clearing will lead to.

>> you are watching abc7 use o'clock, on your side. >> i knew -- abc7 news at 6:00, on your site. >> a new report shows that as many as 47 million americans have mistakes in their credit report. the consumer data industry association of aspiring back though, saying 90% of credit reports are accurate. still, it does not hurt to check your credit report. 7 is on your side with reports of new technology from apple. the tech giant is reportedly working on a wrist watch that runs on the same ios system as

the iphone and ipad. so far, no comment from apple. >> organizers for beyonce have added an extra performance or hurt summer tour. this decision after strong demand for tickets. they have added an additional show on tuesday, july 30 at. -- july 30 at. tonight, a new report indicates problems with the plans for the new virginia hot lanes. >> they are millions of dollars in the red. drivers are not surprised. we will have that story in a live report. >> and the weather conditions are expected to clear up after a mild monday. doug hill is back with changes

we could expect in the forecast. >> and georgetown continues to climb the national polls. and look who is back. ready to start all over again. the very latest coming

>> a transportation upgrade that officials uneven virginia thought was a cash cow is losing money. >> these express lanes have reportedly lost more than $11 million in the first six weeks of operation. your live in tyson's corner. -- we are live in tyson's corner. >> beat number of drivers is not what was predicted. it is half as much was predicted several years ago. the association is said to go for 75 years. the company says long before that the trend will change. drivers that steer clear of the hot lanes have their reasons.

>> why use it, if you can get around it? >> i do not use it. i am a college student. >> it saves my life. >> she has her reasons why. >> it takes 20 minutes of my commit. it is crazy. >> -- off my commute. it is crazy. >> regardless of how people feel it has lost $11 million. >> it is not crowded at all. >> the hot plains it lost $11.3 million in the first six weeks of operation. the project did bring in $1 million in tolls and fees. depreciation, financing, and operating costs pushed the deficit higher. >> the company operating the

proctor says the so-called ramp up period could take months or years. >> essentially this project will be making money. >> skeptics may disagree. >> so, it is basically a waste. >> i think it will catch john. it will take some time. >> the higher the volume of traffic, the higher the rate. transurban is doing all it can throw up advertising and outreach to make sure the amount of traffic goes up. abc7 news. >> all right. >> what is going on? kind of gloomy. >> we were waiting for some sunshine here. we were watching the rooftop camera. i will share what we saw. does take a look. -- just take a look. that is the last 20 minutes or

so before sunset. a harbinger of what is to come tomorrow. sunshine, a very pleasant temperatures across the area. let's put the liamsville camera into motion. check out these temperatures. 66 degrees it reported in leonardtown in st. mary's county. about 907 inch of rain. a very mild the. a very mild evening. -- a very mild and the. -- a very mild day. i do not know if you noticed the record low for the day. is our all-time record low ever sat, 15 below zero in the 1800's's. it is not going to be called like that. in may be cold enough tonight to

cause a little rain here. maybe a little snow. 30's and 40 fell to the west. you see those colder temperatures? a very active southern branch of the jet stream. this moisture and hanging around the gulf for several more days. the high pressure will keep us high and dry. partly sunny. hi, thin cloud. wednesday, it looks like an area of low pressure and the sloping lists of. we get rain in the afternoon. it could bring cold air in to make a change to snow. does a little transition with cold air. that will clear back out thursday and friday. we have another chance. we may have more snow or a mix. maybe sometime late saturday night or sunday. we have partly to mostly sunny.

the seven-day shows the chance of rain. maybe wednesday night. thursday friday, over the weekend, it turns substantially colder. we will keep an eye on a possible system that could affect us on sunday. >> and now the toyota sports desk, brought to you by your local toyota dealers. >> all right. it is that time of year again. >> it is that time of year. did he say there was great weather? we know so. baseball. spring training. they believe they can be world champs and they are ready to get down to business. the first line of business making sure that steven strasbourg is 100%. he says that he is over 100%. he wants to get back to the post-season.

he was just a spectator in the nats drive last fall. >> i know it will be 100% better being on the field. hopefully we will have the opportunity. >> the nationals' drive to the title starts now. britt will bring us the latest every single day right here on abc7. it does not seem like many teams are stepping up and taking over in basketball. 15 ranked georgetown continues to climb the rankings. meanwhile, the maryland terrapins missed an opportunity against virginia. 11-3. 11 of 18. incredible shooting. uva moves in after all that

tournament talk. now, let's move into colorado. here he comes with a great dumped and smashes the backboard. hold on. they do not have backboards. the game was suspended. dream is shattered by isdunk. the first year hockey coach adam oates has been going through the growing pains with the caps. the team started firing on all cylinders. can they repeat that performance in florida? >> we needed a little bonus. we do a lot of good things. the last couple of weeks i have been stressing plating

correctly. we did that. i think if we play that way, we will win our straight games. >> and singing the national anthem at the bakersfield hockey game. the singer and never stopped. i want you to watch the handler as he tries to get this -- he goes down and gets the bird. this is the california condor. is the largest bird in the western hemisphere. if it's everybody's attention. that is our shot of the week. the singer of the national anthem, she sang like a bird and that is why she is the mvp of the weekend. >> [laughter] >>

>> we have time to hear from doug hill with one last look at the weather. >> cloudy wednesday. could change to snow wednesday night. then we could have another chance for snow. much colder air with this week. much more tomorrow on "good morning washington." >> and of course, you will be back at 11:00? >> of course. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--

i want to see more of that condor. >> why?